Just out of curiosity, since it didn't matter either way, was meyamashi's objection to Asimov's book actually counted? From the way the rules are worded, I was under the impression that objections should have a reason. Despite a couple comments inquiring about his reasoning, meyamashi sort of pissily refused to engage in discussion.

It was counted, though the vote outcome would have gone the same way if it wasn't.

I agree that that thread might have gone a lot better if (s)he had given some kind of justification for the objection, but since any justification just invites a counter-argument, which can easily devolve into a flamewar, I can understand why (s)he refused.

Yes, like I said, it didn't matter in this decision. However, this is a subreddit for discussion, and it seems that in the spirit of that discussion a person should at least be required to give some kind of reason beyond "because" to influence the choice negatively. Otherwise, isn't it the same as if a downvote were allowed? A vote against with no reason? I'm not even saying they need to be eloquent or really even convincing, as that's subjective. But this person refused to give any reason other than they didn't want to read it. Fear of a flamewar hardly seems like a good reason to petulantly refuse to engage (and if the person were trying to avoid an argument, responded in the way they did certainly did not give that impression). Plus, the excellent moderation you (all) provide in this subreddit has quickly ended any such kind of rude monkey business on the rare occasion I've seen it appear.

I'm not really trying to make a fuss. It's just something I think is worth considering. The submission guidelines already say, "If you'd like not to read a book, please make a comment reply explaining why," which led to my question in the first place.

Yeah, I hear what you're saying. Unfortunately the more complex the rules become, the more gray areas crop up in actual practice. The posting part talks about giving reasons, but the vote-counting part does not...

Perhaps we'll emphasize the "explaining why" part more in future elections. I'll have to talk to the other mods about it.